


That escalated quickly

by alphaholloway



Series: The Raeken-Dunbar Adventures [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Dad!Thiam, Family Feels, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, RIP Theo's jacket, Son!Nolan, alternative universe, but not really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-26
Updated: 2018-11-26
Packaged: 2019-08-29 18:31:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16749394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alphaholloway/pseuds/alphaholloway
Summary: Theo got a call from school. Nolan punched a kid. But why would he do that? Liam isn't a fan of it and things get out of hand pretty quickly.Summaries are not easy ok?





	That escalated quickly

Theo was running up to the elementary school, ignoring the looks pedestrians gave him. The principal had called him twenty minutes ago. He still couldn’t believe it.

His son, his baby boy had hit someone in the face. With his fist. And apparently with all his strength. Liam would be furious. Luckily, the principal had called him and not his husband. Not only was he at work, but Liam tended to explode easier because of his IED.

Theo slowed down when he entered the school. The halls were empty, and he quickly soothed his hair and jacket before knocking at the principal’s office.

“Come in.”

Theo took a deep breath and did as he was told to. Only to stop dead in his tracks when he had closed the door and turned to the desk. Principal Hale looked up; An older man with grey hair and a beard, that Nolan had compared to Santa Claus’ once. He was looking at Theo with his wise dark eyes through the black rimmed glasses and pointed at the seat in front of him. Next to the other. And there he was.

Nolan looked down at his shoes, his backpack on the ground leaned against the desk. His hair was a mess and if Theo hadn’t been the one to help Nolan into his favorite Batman t-shirt this morning, he wouldn’t have notice that he had changed. His plain grey t-shirt was stained with blood on the front and Theo approached carefully, kneeling beside his son.

“You okay?”, he asked and eyed the 8-year-old boy.

That’s when Nolan looked up.

Theo immediately tensed.

There were tear stains down his cheeks and his lip was a bit swollen, but there was something in his expression that made Theo’s heart ache. He looked, and smelled, like misery and regret, but there was a sting of satisfaction and relief.

Theo looked up at the principal while sitting down. Principal Hale, his good friend Derek’s father, sighed and took of his glasses.

“We don’t really know what happened. The kids only said that Nolan suddenly punched Jamie. No one knows if someone had said something, or who began. But Jamie has a broken nose. So, we assume he hit Nolan and Nolan did the same, just more forcefully.”

Theo looked over to his son, who was looking down again.

“We want you to speak with him about it and maybe tell me on Monday what he said. They could demand pain money.”

“Thank you”, Theo sighed and shook his head slightly. Nolan wasn’t like that. He had never hurt a fly before. When they watched movies with too much violence, he usually asked to watch something else. Nolan must have had a good reason.

But was there even a good reason to punch someone? Except his and Liam’s little incident when they argued once. Or twice. Or more often.

He stood up and shook principal Hale’s hand, walking to the door with Nolan hot on his heels, still not saying a word to defend himself or his actions. And the silence continued throughout the whole car ride and the walk up to the house.

 

Inside, Nolan took off his shoes and was ready to bolt up to his room, but someone cleared his throat from the living room. Theo had been so deep in thoughts, he hadn’t even noticed his husband’s presence. “We need to talk. Now.”

Nolan’s mortification was visible, and Theo had to hold his breath. The fear radiating from his son was overwhelming. Liam seemed to notice too, but he didn’t move from where he stood with crossed arms and an unreadable expression.

That was bad. Normally, Theo knew how to interpret every expression.

Now he was scared too.

Nolan sat down on the couch, looking everywhere except his dads. Theo stopped next to Liam and his husband relaxed a bit with him near again.

“Why did you hit that kid?”, Liam asked sternly.

Nolan stared at the wall behind them, getting paler every second that passed, and his hands trembled.

Theo frowned. Maybe that was the wrong approach. He sat down beside Nolan, laying his hand on his shoulder. “What happened?”, he asked, softer than Liam but as demanding.

Nolan’s lower lip began to tremble and then he was crashing against Theo’s chest, sobbing into the material of his shirt and whining apologies and that he understood that they would bring him back. Theo frowned and looked at Liam with a puzzled look. Liam stared at Nolan and in the next moment he was on his other side, rubbing soothingly over his back and kissing his head.

“I’m…I’m so sorry”, Nolan sobbed, jumped from their embrace and ran upstairs. His door closed with a loud clash and they stared at the point he had sat seconds before.

“We should follow him”, Liam said, standing up already and Theo nodded. They walked to his door and Liam knocked. “Nolan? Can we come in?”

There was a muffled okay and then they came in. Nolan hid under his blanket; the sobs became less. They sat down on each side and waited. After five minutes, Nolan looked up at them with a red nose and puffy eyes.

“It’s okay, pumpkin. You don’t have to tell us, we know you regret it. But we are worried”, Liam said and carded softly through Nolan's hair.

Nolan looked at them unsure now. “I… I’m not sorry I punched him”, he clarified. “I’m sorry I made you angry.”

Liam’s hand was gone in an instant, leaving Nolan’s hair in a weird angle. “What do you mean you aren’t sorry for punching him?? You should be! Punching people isn’t something you should be proud of!”

Theo knew that would escalate when he saw Liam opening his mouth again. The only other time, Liam and Nolan had argued that heavy, Nolan hadn’t spoken to any of them for three days and always went to Corey and Mason. They let him sleep on their couch and picked him up after school, knowing that he and Liam needed time.

“You are going to apologize to that boy on Monday and give him something. Understood?”, Liam said through his gritted teeth.

Nolan adamantly shook his head. “No.”

“Nolan! That wasn’t a suggestion!”, Liam almost yelled, his fists clutched the blanket. Theo took them and rubbed softly over the back of his hands.

“He hit me too. He deserved it”, Nolan huffed and crossed his arms over his chest.

That was the wrong thing to say. Liam jumped to his feet, startling their son in the motion and looked at him with glowing eyes.

They hadn’t told Nolan about the supernatural yet. They had planned to do it next weekend. Since they had adopted him back when he was four, they had always feared his reaction. But how did you tell your child; _Hey listen, the two people that love you the most are a werewolf and a chimera?_

A banner?

A party?

During dinner?

But now, Liam had difficulties to control the shift, fangs appearing and disappearing again. Nolan looked shocked at him and Theo smelt his confusion. But the more penetrant scent was fear.

Liam stared at him with a broken expression. His own son feared him. He was a monster. All the self-hatred thoughts crossed his mind again and that didn’t help. It actually made things worse.

“Liam…”, Theo tried and held his hand out to his husband, but Liam flinched back, eyes locked on the blue ones in the room, still staring at him with fear and confusion.

“Dad? What’s happening?”, Nolan asked Theo and hid even more under the dark blue blanket, Corey had given him to his seventh birthday.

“Nolan, everything’s okay. You’re safe with us, remember? Your papa loves you and would never hurt you.” Theo wasn’t sure whom he tried to calm, his son or his husband.

Liam stared deep into Theo’s green eyes, getting lost in them and remembering all beautiful memories. Their first date, their holidays, their night in the cabin. The day they had adopted Nolan. Nolan’s first birthday with them. Nolan’s first day at school. And many more.

When he had control again, he looked at Nolan. Latter cowered on the bed with wide eyes. He took a step towards him, but Nolan’s heart beat faster again.

“Nolan…”, he tried. But their boy interrupted him.

“What happened with papa? And you, dad? What’s going on??” His voice sounded too high and even he flinched at that.

Theo sat down next to him slowly, fearing he would run away if he moved too fast. Liam mirrored it and stared at his hands. “We wanted to tell you soon”, he began and looked up again.

Nolan waited for him to continue. And Theo did. “Look, I haven’t planned anything yet, so let’s just say it how it is. I’m a chimera. You could say half werewolf, half coyote. And your papa is a werewolf. But you don’t have to be afraid, okay? We would never hurt you or anything.” Theo was surprised how calm his voice sounded, even with the storm inside him.

Nolan stared at them, not sure what to say. Maybe, because he knew it. He had figured it out a long time ago, after he had seen their glowing eyes. He had even asked his uncle Stiles what that meant. He could have asked Corey or Mason too, but Stiles was Derek’s husband and he wouldn’t tell his dads about his questions. He had simply answered all of them, explained the supernatural and what that meant for him too. He had never told them though, because he knew, deep down still lingered the fear. And now, after seeing it, his stomach twisted from finally getting the confirmation that he hadn’t dreamed about that. It was real.

So, he did what uncle Stiles would do.

“Took you long enough to tell me. Next time you see him, ask sourwolf to give Stiles a hug from me.”

There was a moment of silence. Theo and Liam stared at their son, stunned and unsure what to make out of that.

He knew?

Stiles?

Stiles told him?

No, he had asked Stiles. He must have seen it. The signs.

“Since when?”, Theo asked and tried to suppress the growl. The last thing he should do now, was growling at Nolan. No, he should never do that, but especially not now.

Nolan tugged at a loose thread and sheepishly looked at them. “Remember when you tried to bake me a cake for my sixth birthday?”

They nodded simultaneously.

“I came back with the flour from uncle Corey and saw you two growling and your eyes glowed. I asked uncle Stiles the next day when you were shopping.”

Theo inhaled deeply, murdering Stiles in the back of his mind, but trying to ignore it for the moment. There was enough time to do that later. Now, he had to be there for his family.

Liam looked at Nolan, still angry but it seemed to wear off. “So, you knew? Why didn’t you just ask us?”

Nolan shrugged. “I don’t know. I felt safer with asking uncle Stiles, you know? He knew that I wanted to hear all of it, not only the sweettalked stuff.”

That sounded an awful lot like Stiles.

Nolan interpreted their silence wrong and literally jumped to his feet. “Don’t kill uncle Stiles! He wanted to help! He told me to talk with you about it ever since. But…. I don’t know. It sounds like a movie.” He moved over to them and held out his arms for a hug. “And I know you won’t hurt me. I trust you”, he said softly, looking at them with so much sincerity that no one was surprised when seconds later, Nolan was grabbed and sandwiched between them in the hug of the century. He giggled against Liam’s throat and closed his eyes, enjoying the affectionate act. Theo and Liam did too, loving the scent of home and family, listening to Nolan’s heartbeat and staring at the other with a content look.

 

 

They just laid down after that, watching Nolan falling asleep. Theo stood up and kissed his sleeping boys before taking a shower. He then went to the kitchen in his sweatpants and the t-shirt, Nolan had made for him in school (grey, with BEST DAD on the back) when he noticed the paper next to Nolan’s backpack. It must have fallen out before. Whistling, he picked it up and looked at it, expecting one of Nolan’s sketches or just doodles from whatever they had talked about in biology.

But it wasn’t.

It was a sheet, full of insults against Nolan, or better against Nolan’s dads. The messy handwriting of another 8-year-old, a red marker and words, Theo never wanted Nolan to hear. But here they were, on a piece of paper in his son’s bag.

He suddenly felt sick. Was that why he had punched that Jamie? Had something like that happened before? Now it made even more sense why their perfect little sunshine often came home, smelling like he had had the worst day ever.

Without much thinking, he took a photo of it before ripping it to shreds and throwing it into the trashcan. He went upstairs again and stopped in the doorway to look at the beautiful scenery.

Nolan was tucked under the blanket but still snuggled up against Liam’s chest. His husband’s face was buried in their son’s soft dark blonde hair and his arm protectively wrapped around him.

Theo laid down behind Nolan and made himself comfortable with laying his arm on top of Liams’, to protect both from whatever could attack; murderers, thieves, air. Who knew. And content with their mixed scents, he fell asleep too.

 

 

 

When all of them sat in the kitchen again the next day, the warm bubble they had basked in for as long as possible burst.

It had started with Nolan sitting down and eating his cereals and Liam making coffee for him and Theo when Theo’s phone signalized a new message. Liam had asked if he should check it for him and read aloud, that Scott and Malia would be gone for the weekend. He was about to put it away again, but apparently, Theo had forgotten to close the photo album. And the first picture Liam saw, was the picture of the piece of paper with their names and insults on it, written angrily with a red marker.

Easy to say, it didn’t go well.

Liam exploded.

Literally.

He stood there, cursing and half shouting, his fangs and claws finding Theo’s favorite jacket and when Theo protested, his husband glared at him with glowing eyes.

Theo sipped his coffee quietly and sat down again.

“Nolan, who did that?”, Liam growled and let the remains of Theo’s jacket fall to the ground. Theo tried to suppress a whine as he saw that.

Nolan seemed to have made peace with the werewolf thing already, because he didn’t look at his dad, just stirred his breakfast. “I don’t know what you’re talking about”, he said quietly eyes averting from his bowl and slowly finding their place to stay at Theo. The latter sighed and put down his mug. He was also angry about it, but he already had a guess who had given Nolan that sheet.

“It was this Jamie, right?”, Theo asked, although he knew it was true. His son’s chemo signals almost immediately changed, and his heartbeat confirmed his guess.

Nolan nodded anyways.

“That’s why you punched him?”, Liam chimed in, still wolfed out but now without fangs and claws. The only evidence of his previous freak out being his still golden eyes and Theo’s _favorite_ jacket.

Nolan nodded again.

“Did he say things like that before?”, Theo asked, trying to suppress the shift now broadening under the surface. His baby boy didn’t deserve that. Why did things like that always happen to the best people?

Nolan looked at them with wide eyes, stunned by their flashing eyes now. He had never seen Theo like that, not counting the glimpse he had seen at his sixth birthday.

“Nolan! Yes or no?”, Liam growled and gripped the back of the chair tighter. It broke with a loud creak. That seemed to make an effect, getting Nolan’s attention in an instant.

He swallowed thickly and nodded. “I usually don’t listen to them. But yesterday they didn’t stop. They said bad things, papa. And no one is allowed to talk about you like that”, Nolan said, his voice steady but his chemo signals a storm of hurt, anger, worry, shame and proud.

Liam growled lowly, hitting whoever that kid was in the back of his mind. Just metaphorical though, he wouldn’t hit a child.

“Nolan, if something like that ever happens again you tell us, ok? If you punch everyone who says bad things, you’re going to be the bad one. Violence isn’t the right way”, Theo said and looked at his son with a determined glance in his eyes. The irony that Scott had said the same words to him back when he got first accepted as a pack member made Theo almost laugh.

Nolan sighed and nodded. “Okay. Can we not talk about it now?”

Liam shook his head slightly, smiling against his will. He remembered Scott’s speech too. “Ok. Just remember that.”

“I will”, Nolan grinned and then he jumped up on his char, being on eye height with Liam. “Can we now please go to uncle Corey and uncle Mason? They said they have a surprise for me!”

Theo laughed at that. “Okay, okay. Go and change, we’ll wait here.”

Nolan kissed them both on the cheeks and then he bolted upstairs to his room. Liam and Theo looked at each other, fondness glimmering in their eyes. “You good?”, Theo asked and wrapped his arm around Liam’s waist.

The beta nodded and slung his arm around his neck. “Sorry about that. I don’t know, I just got so angry because he must have gone through so much without us knowing about it.”

“I get it”, Theo nodded. Obviously. Nolan had never mentioned any problems like that, even after he had reacted to it.

Liam was about to kiss him, their lips only an inch apart, when Theo frowned and nuzzled his cheek. “You owe me a jacket, little wolf.”

Liam laughed at that and kissed Theo’s nose. “I’ll make it up to you. Promise.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, hope you liked it!
> 
> English isn't my native language, sorry for the mistakes  
> Comments and Kudos are appreciated<3


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